


You Make Me Feel Safe

by queer_quill



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Fluff and Feels, I Made Myself Cry, Love Confessions, M/M, also my apprentice in trans!! for all you muriel lovin trans boys out there, i scribbled this out in my notebook like half an hour ago and immediately typed it up, no beta readers we die like men, original apprentice - Freeform, very soft and tender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 13:56:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20472155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queer_quill/pseuds/queer_quill
Summary: We watch as Auriel awkwardly confesses his feelings for Muriel. This definitely wasn't planned, but hey, the cat's already out of the bag. (Original apprentice character.)





	You Make Me Feel Safe

Auriel had never seen Muriel so red.

"What..." Muriel stood almost motionless in the firelit hut, shocked by Auriel's last statement.

"I, uh... I love you..." Auriel was almost as caught off guard as the other man, but he repeated himself nonetheless.

Muriel was statue-like, his face frozen in a look of deep, genuine confusion, his mouth agape. The pair of them stood silently across from each other in the small hut, and even the roaring fire sounded dull against the thrumming in Auriel's ears.

There were eventually broken from their stupor as Inanna shuffled slightly in her sleep.

"You don't have to say it back," Auriel said quickly, trying in any way he could to diffuse the tension in the room. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I know you can get overwhelmed by this kind of stuff, it just kind of slipped out, and-" Auriel trailed off, realizing that Muriel's expression had changed ever so slightly. If he didn't spend so much time with Muriel, he surely wouldn't have caught it.

"Muriel, what's wrong?" Auriel almost whispered, his voice now concerned as opposed to his awkward rambling moments earlier.

Muriel looked intently down at his hands, almost like they would detach and run away if he took his eyes off of them. Still-

"Muriel, please look at me. What's wrong?" Auriel repeated and took a tentative step forward. The large man didn't startle, so he took another, easily closing the distance between them in the tiny hut.

Muriel's mouth tightened into a line, but Auriel didn't budge. He knew Muriel wanted to say something, he just had to be patient enough to let him put it into words.

It was fascinating watching his face as the wheels in Muriel's mind turned. It was something that Auriel liked about him. Since Muriel hardly spoke, all of his words had a purpose, everything he said meant something. He never said anything he didn't mean.

Surely enough, Muriel spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't understand why."

Auriel's heart almost shattered.

"Because I... I just do. It's hard to give you an exact reason why..." Auriel searched Muriel's face for answers, some concrete evidence for his feelings, but all he could think about was the way his heart soared every time Muriel looked at him. The way Muriel shook his hair in front of his face when he was nervous. How safe he felt every time Muriel took his hand. The tiniest smile that tickled at Muriel's lips when he pet Inanna. How-

"-_you make me feel like I'm home just by being near me_."

Auriel clapped a hand over his mouth. There's no way he just said all that out loud. But no, the completely awestruck look in Muriel's eyes tells him that he really did just unwittingly spilled his soul out in fronts of the gods and everyone.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dump all that on you." Auriel's eyes flicked between the other man and the door. "Maybe I should just go."

Auriel moved to leave, but Muriel caught his wrist before he had even taken a full step. Auriel turned to his and gave a questioning look, and Muriel quickly dropped his hand when he realized what he'd done.

"Sorry," Muriel muttered gruffly. "I just-" His eyes flitted around until he squeezed them closed and took a deep breath.

"I... like that... you... love me." Muriel's words were stilted as if he didn't know how to form them and just let them fall out of his mouth. But he was gaining confidence with every one.

"I'm glad that you are always beside me, even when you don't have to be. You... make me feel safe, too."

Auriel smiled shakily, and pinpricks of tears welled in the corners of his eyes as he slowly reached his hands out to hold one of Muriel's.

"Thank you for letting me be beside you." Auriel looked into Muriel's forest-green eyes and watched as, for a brilliant moment, Muriel smiled widely before he reached his arms around Auriel and hugged him tightly. Auriel returned the hug warmly, sighing softly. What little tears had formed slid down Auriel's cheeks as he closed his eyes and breathed in the calming smell of myrrh.

Muriel bent his head down placed a gentle kiss on the crown of Auriel's head, and Auriel smiled as he realized that that was Muriel's "I love you, too."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you want to see more of Auriel, because I definitely have a lot more written. This is very short because I handwrote it and I have very big handwriting, so it seemed like more on paper.


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